Richland County approves mileage reimbursement to recruit volunteer home-delivery meal drivers

Richland County Health & Human Services approved a plan to reimburse volunteer drivers for home-delivered meals at the state mileage rate, a change staff said is intended to boost recruitment and retention of volunteers.

Roxanne Klubertan Gerber, interim director, and Rose Cahoot, public-health director, told the board the nutrition program previously had about 60 volunteer meal drivers before the pandemic; that number has fallen to about six. Program staff said they currently run six meal routes and could expand to a seventh route if volunteers were available. The reimbursement mirrors practice used for the county’s transportation volunteer program and aligns with most Wisconsin counties: staff reported Richland County was one of five counties statewide that had not been reimbursing meal-delivery volunteers.

Rose Cahoot said the county already had been absorbing mileage costs by assigning staff to make deliveries; switching to volunteer reimbursement should free staff time for other duties.

Supervisor Don Seape moved approval of the reimbursement plan; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. Board members discussed budget offsets: staff said increased meal volume and program revenue would offset most of the cost and that the change would not require additional county tax levy. Finance staff review and approval were noted as the next administrative step.

Clarifying details provided at the meeting: the program operates six routes (30 one-way routes over five days), the volunteer roster fell from roughly 60 to 6 since the pandemic, and the ADRC expects the change to increase recruitment. The board recorded the approval by voice vote; no roll-call tally was read into the record.

Ending: The program will implement the mileage reimbursement at the state rate pending finance office processing; staff will return with program updates and any budget impacts as needed.